Car-brake



Fifi-l- (No Model.) I J. FORD.

GAR BRAKE.

No. 560,488. PatentedMay 19, 1896.

-I o I Q awzm W666 W A r .7 A r 1 I v 4% I Q i I I UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

JAMES FORD, OF JOHNSTOVN, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 560,488, dated May 19, 1896.

Application filed September 24,1895. Serial No. 563,524. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES FORD, a citizen of the United States, residing at J ohnstown, in the county of Oambria and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Oar-Brake, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in car-brakes.

The object of the invention is to provide for street-railway and other cars a simple, efficient, and inexpensive brake capable of readily bringing a car to a standstill and adapted to operate automatically or be controlled by hand.

A further object of the invention is to provide an automatic brake which maybe readily thrown out of operation when it is desirable to back ears.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan View of a car truck or frame provided with a brake constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of the tapering socket.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

1 designates a truck-frame provided with suitable journal-boxes receiving the axles of car-wheels 2 in the ordinary manner, and the frame is provided adjacent to the car-wheels with transverse brake-bars 3, carrying brakeshoes 4E arranged to engage the car-wheels. Each brake-bar is capable by a limited horizontal movement of carrying its brake-shoes into and out of engagement with the carwheels, and it is mounted on a centrally-arranged longitudinally-disposed rod 5'. The rod 5 is guided in an opening 6 of a transverse beam 7, arranged parallel with the brake-bar 3 and rigidly fixed to the frame on the truck, and a spiral spring 8 is disposed on the rod 5 and interposed between the transverse beam 7 and a pin 8, and is adapted to hold the brake-shoes normally off the wheels able .means.

and to relieve the wheels of them as soon as the brake-bar is free to move backward.

The brake-bar 3 has mounted on it fixed wedges 10, which are arranged in the space between the brake-bar and the transverse beam at the opposite side of the former from the brake-shoes; and the fixed wedges are adapted to be engaged by vertically-movable wedges 11, interposed between the fixed wedges and the transverse beam '7. clined faces of the wedges are arranged in contact and the movable wedges have straight vertical faces bearing against the adjacent face of the transverse beam, and when the movable wedges are raised the brake-shoes are forced into contact with the car-wheels, and as soon as the wedges 11 are thrown downward the spiral spring 8 operates to relieve the oar -wheel of the brake-shoes.

The movable wedges are provided with upwardly-extending shanks 12, which are pivavoid interfering with the car-couplings.

The front end of the connecting-bar is pivoted to an operating-lever 17, which is fulcrumed on the car and which extends upward through anopening in the platform, and is adapted to be operated by hand or other suit- This operating-lever extends below the connecting-bar, and has pivoted to it a push-bar 18, extending forward from the car and adapted when in position for use to engage a tapering socket 18, designed to be mounted on a car in advance of the one carrying the push-bar.

When the brake of a motor-car is being applied and the cars come together as their movement is retarded, the push-bar enters the tapering socket and the connecting-bar is forced rearward, thereby partially rotating the rock-shaft and raising the movable wedges and applying the brake. The tapering socket The ina 18 is provided at its back with an overhanging top portion, forming a recess for confining the outer end of the bar 18, to prevent the latter from swinging upward on its pivot during the automatic operation of the brake. An operating-rope 20 is connected with the pivoted push-bar and is adapted when it is desired to back the cars to enable the motorman or conductor to swing the push-bar upward out of alinement with the tapering socket to prevent any automatic operation of the brake.

It will be seen that the brake mechanism is exceedingly simple and inexpensive in construction, and that it is positive and reliable in operation, and that it is capable of readily bringing a car to a standstill. It will also be apparent that the brake is automatic in operation, that it is capable of being arranged to prevent such automatic operation in backing, and that it is adapted to be applied by hand or other means.

Changes in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificin g any advantages of the invention, such as applying an operating-lever to either end of the car or providing means for enabling the brake to be operated by any other power.

What I claim is 1. In a car-brake, the combination of a frame, car-wheels journaled thereon, a transverse beam fixed to the frame and arranged adjacent to the wheels, the brake -bar arranged parallel with the beam and carrying brake-shoes, a wedge fixed to the brake-bar and arranged in the space between the same and the said beam, a vertically-movable wedge interposed between the fixed wedge and the beam and having an inclined face to engage that of the fixed wedge, and provided adjacent to the beam with a vertical face bearing against the same, and means for raising and lowering the movable wedge substantially as described.

2. In a car-brake, the combination of a frame having a transverse beam, car-wheels, a brake-bar arranged parallel with the beam and carrying brake-shoes, a transverse rockshaft journaled on the frame,and having arms terminating over the space between the beam and the fixed wedges, movable wedges interposed between the beam and the fixed wedges and connected with said arms, and means for actuating the rock-shaft, substantially as described.

3. In a car-brake, the combination of a frame having a transverse beam, wheels, a brake-bar carrying brake-shoes and provided with a longitudinal rod guided on said beam, a spring disposed on the rod and engaging the beam and adapted to throw the brake-shoes off the wheels, fixed wedges secured to the brake-bar movable wedges interposed be tween the fixed wedges and the said beam and a rock-shaft journaled on the frame and 0011- nected with the movable wedges, adapted to raise and lower the same, substantially as described.

4. In a car brake, the combination of a frame, a brake-bar carrying brake-shoes, a wedge for throwing the brake-shoes into engagement with the car-wheels, and a spring connected with the brake-bar and adapted to withdraw the brake-shoes out of contact with the car-wheels as soon as the brake-bar is free to move backward,substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

' JAMES FORD.

\Vitnesses:

Trros. D. BRODERICK, DAVID BARRY. 

